Do you have your own collection of sand at home? Glass bottles filled here and there, to remind you of having been lying down in the heat once. Or keep dear in the bookshop “La collezione di sabbia” by Italo Calvino. Good. These are the prerequisites for entering the magical world of “ilfilodipartenope”   and meet Lina Marigliano and Alberto D’Angelo in via Costantinopoli, in Naples. Good. This year the project of these two artisan publishers is 15 years old. Books are precious objects, those who love reading know it well. But the little treasures that Lina and Alberto propose us steal the material from the earth.

Alberto & Lina

“Collection of sand”, for example, (the reference to Italo Calvino is shameless) collects texts on Italian coasts and seas (thirteen titles until now), with covers made with sand from the places to which the verses are inspired. It’s incredible, is not it? “We wanted to create a poetic geographic atlas, we wanted to tell the places through fragments of writing and covers of the matter of the places they tell,” explains Lina. Minor limited editions, small masterpieces.

“Books are born from books – Lina continues -We always read, ours is a continuous reading exercise. There are those who do it through the photos and who through the written word. The result is a continuous cultural growth. The result is beautiful, but for us the path through which the project develops is more interesting”. Their store is more like an art gallery than a bookshop.

Eighty projects in book form. From the first “Tufo” by Erri da Luca with an etching by Vittorio Avella, to the last “365 Il giorno del pane” with original photographs by Antonio Biasiucci and a novel by Stella Cervasio, in competition for the prestigious “Fedrigoni Top Award 2019”  www.fedrigonitopaward.com

And Lido Mappatella with a handmade paper cover kneading cotton fibers with sands and ragged pieces. The text is by Enza Silvestrini printed on straw paper and with a unique copy portrait made by Enrico Pulsoni.

Then, “CUM GRANO SALIS” with texts by Luigi Trucco from a literary tale extracted by Nico Orengo and with 7 serigraph plates by Vincenzo Rusciano.

Tonia Limatola

My blog tonialimatola.wordpress.com